


I Am a Shadow of My Soul

by FreyaAtterton



Series: Finally Feels Like Home [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Tony Stark, Drama, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Peter Parker Feels, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Team as Family, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Violence, Whump, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27722891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreyaAtterton/pseuds/FreyaAtterton
Summary: “Stand down. It’s over.”Peter vehemently shakes his head and takes a step back. Then another. He slowly retreats until his back hits the wall behind him. He swallows hard.The Avengers have come to fight him. They have cornered him and he has nowhere to run. He has no weapon and he feels too weak to put up a fight. He feels dizzy and he guesses his knees might buckle anytime now. Still, he puts up his trembling fists, ready to fight them if they come any closer.He thinks if the Avengers are after him, if they want to capture him, he must be a bad guy. The Avengers are heroes, they have saved the world too many times to count and if they came after him, he must be one of the bad guys. A criminal. He must have done really, really bad things if the Avengers want to stop him.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Finally Feels Like Home [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945681
Comments: 13
Kudos: 308
Collections: The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics, The Best of the Best MCU Fics





	I Am a Shadow of My Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, here’s a new story for you. Spiderman was kidnapped and rescued, and this story is basically the aftermath. There’s no Aunt May here, I have absolutely nothing against her, I just couldn’t find a way to bring her into this one. So you might consider this story as a companion piece to my WIP, where Tony has taken in Peter. But you don’t have to read that one to understand this story. (It would be great, if you did though :) )
> 
> The title comes from the song Blur by Tremble. If you want to listen to this song, try the Greg Fisher remix, that’s much better than the original.
> 
> Disclaimer: no, I don’t own Marvel. I wish.

_“Stand down. It’s over.”_

_He vehemently shakes his head and takes a step back. Then another. He slowly retreats until his back hits the wall behind him. He swallows hard._

_The Avengers have come to fight him. They have cornered him and he has nowhere to run. He has no weapon and he feels too weak to put up a fight. He feels dizzy and he guesses his knees might buckle anytime now. Still, he puts up his trembling fists, ready to fight them if they come any closer._

_“Don’t do this, kid,” the man in the shiny, red and golden armor says. Iron Man. The hero has found him, trapped him and wants him to surrender. Well, he won’t._

_“Come on, Queens, you can stop now,” another voice claims and he can see Captain America behind Iron Man._

_Okay, no biggie, it’s just the two greatest heroes to take him down. What a day._

_But he can do this. He won’t give up that easily. He’ll fight until his last breath. And he won’t go easy on them. He curls his fingers until the tips painfully dig into his palms and takes a step forward._

_Iron Man’s faceplate retracts to reveal a surprisingly worried face. “Kid, please,” the man says and there’s sadness dripping from his voice. Why? What could possibly make the Avenger feel sad now? They’re going to win and he’ll lose, he knows that. He’s hurt and weak and they’re not, so this fight will be over soon. No need to feel sad._

_He moves forward unsteadily to throw a jab, but before his fist could land on Iron Man, he suddenly loses footing and falls hard onto the floor. He yells in pain, curling in on himself. He wishes the pain sent him into oblivion so that he could get away from here. Far from the agony and far from the Avengers who want to capture him._

“Doctor Cho, I think he’s waking up,” a gentle female voice says.

He tries to do his best to focus on this nice voice, because he doesn’t want to be there, in that creepy warehouse fighting the Avengers. Because they’re real heroes, right? So if they want to take him down, it means he is… well, definitely not one of the good guys. Is that what he is? A bad guy? A villain? Why else would the Avengers want to catch him?

“Peter?” Can you hear me?” another woman asks, her voice is kind. “Can you open your eyes?”

He tries to do as the nice woman asked and slowly, he manages to open his heavy eyelids. His mind still feels foggy, though. When he looks up, he can see a woman standing over him, smiling. Doctor Cho, his sluggish mind supplies. That’s what the other woman said.

“It’s nice to see you awake, Peter,” the doctor says. “We’ve kept you sedated until the drugs in your system ran their course.”

He frowns. Drugs? What is she talking about? He doesn’t remember being drugged. What happened? Where is he?

He must look very confused, because the doctor gives him a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay, Peter. I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Doctor Cho.”

He nods and knows he should introduce himself now. Manners, right? “I’m…,” he starts and frowns when he realizes he doesn’t know how to continue. He should know this, right? He should know his own name. That’s simple. “Peter?” he offers finally, remembering what the doctor called him before.

Doctor Cho doesn’t seem pleased by his answer, though. No, she looks concerned. “Do you remember your full name?”

He thinks about it. Squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose, he thinks really hard, desperate to come up with a name, with any name, but there’s nothing. Giving up, he opens his eyes, looks down at his hands and shakes his head disappointed.

Doctor Cho sighs. “Okay. Do you remember where you live?”

No, no, no! He doesn’t! He doesn’t remember anything and he’s panicking now, because how is it possible that he has forgotten his own name and where he lives? He should know this stuff. Geez, he even remembers that the guys who found him were Iron Man and Captain America. He remembers them, yet he can’t recall his own name.

There are tears welling in his eyes and he desperately tries to blink them away. He looks up at the doctor by his bed. “I can’t remember!” he gasps, pushing himself up. “Why can’t I remember?”

Doctor Cho gives him another warm smile and gently pushes him back onto the bed. “Calm down, Peter, it’s okay. Like I said you were drugged. We don’t know exactly what they gave you, we’re still analyzing the drugs. But it was bad, Peter, really bad. We nearly lost you.”

“I nearly died?” he asks in shock. What did he get himself into?

“Yes,” the doctor replies calmly. “I guess this memory loss is a side effect of the drugs.”

“Will I get my memory back?”

“Given your powers, I am optimistic that your body will overcome this. However, we don’t know what you were injected with, so no guarantees. I’m sorry.”

Peter closes his eyes and lets out a big breath. He feels so exhausted and hearing about drugs and memory loss makes him even more tired. He just wants to sleep, so that he doesn’t have to deal with Avengers, he doesn’t have to figure out if he’s a good or a bad guy and he doesn’t have to worry about not remembering anything. Yeah, sleeping sounds awesome.

“Why don’t you rest while I call Tony and let him know that you’re awake?” Doctor Cho suggests. “He didn’t want to leave your bedside and it wasn’t easy to convince him to take a shower and eat something.”

Peter frowns. Tony? Who is Tony? He must be someone close to him if he worries about Peter that much, right? Maybe his dad?

And does this Tony know anything about his fight with the Avengers? Did they capture him or did Peter managed to get away? Why did they want to catch him?

“Have a rest, Tony will be here when you wake up,” the doctor explains comfortingly. “Maybe a familiar face will jog your memory.”

Keeping his eyes shut, Peter nods absentmindedly and immediately falls asleep.

* * *

Tony is sitting on a stool in the kitchen, distractedly munching on a sandwich. Of course, Doctor Cho and Pepper were right: he feels better after a shower and well, the sandwich will be probably good for him, too. But he doesn’t like that he had to leave Peter behind in the med bay, even though Helen promised to call him if the kid opened his eyes.

Tony vividly remembers that awful fight a few days ago. It took three days to find Peter after he had gone missing. And when they found him… Gosh, Tony expected a happy reunion and not a scared, confused boy who clearly didn’t recognize them, who thought they were enemies and ignoring his injuries, wanted to fight them. It was just… heartbreaking. He and Steve cornered the kid and he was obviously hurt but he didn’t listen to them, no matter how they begged him to stop fighting. Tony tried everything, he pleaded, argued, debated and even ordered Peter to stand down, but nothing helped, the boy just didn’t stop. Tony felt relieved when the kid’s body finally gave up and he passed out.

Shit. They should have found Peter earlier. Tony should have never let Peter out of his sight. Guilt has been eating him up, since the kid went missing.

“Boss?” Friday’s voice breaks into his thoughts. “Doctor Cho says Peter woke up a few minutes ago. She would like to talk to you about him.”

Tony frowns. That doesn’t sound good. “What’s wrong? Is Peter okay?” he asks, getting up and walking toward the elevator.

“Doctor Cho wants to meet you in her office,” the AI replies calmly.

The man’s stomach swoops with nerves. He doesn’t understand. He knows the kid had plenty of cuts and bruises all over his body when they found him, but Helen said they were healing fast. What’s wrong then?

But Tony also knows that Peter was drugged, he knows Bruce is still analyzing the stuff the kid was injected with. What if those drugs have some kind of long-term effect?

Tony sighs. He just wanted a happy reunion after three days of searching, worrying and fearing the worst. Was it really too much to ask?

* * *

As soon as Tony gets to the med bay, he heads straight to Peter’s room. He knows Helen is waiting for him, but he needs to see the kid first. However, before he could reach his room, he spots the doctor talking to a nurse in the hallway, so he decides to meet her first.

“Helen,” he says walking up to her.

“Hey Tony,” she smiles.

The man opens his mouth to ask about Peter, but the doctor is faster.

“He’s okay, don’t worry. He’s recovering well. But I want to keep him here for another day or two to make sure there are no complications.”

Tony furrows his brow. “So he’s not entirely out of the woods yet?”

“We still don’t know enough about the drugs they used on him. There might be unexpected side-effects. Actually, there’s one already,” Doctor Cho explains.

“What?” Tony asks impatiently.

“Memory loss. He doesn’t remember who he is.”

The man closes his eyes. “Shit,” he groans. He suddenly feels mentally drained. When will this ever stop? When will he get back his Peter? “He can’t remember anything?”

“He knows his name because we told him.”

Tony shakes his head. He can’t imagine how Peter could feel now. Waking up with no memories whatsoever. Not knowing who he is.

Frustrated, he sweeps a hand through his hair. “Okay. And what are we doing now? How can we help him? Is there any medication?”

“The best you can do is to treat him like you normally would and just be there for him. Hopefully, his memories will return.”

Tony nods and plops into a plastic chair by the wall. He props his head on his arms. He can’t wrap his mind around Peter losing his memories. Of course, he will do everything he can to help the kid regain his memories. When Helen discharges him, he will take him to his apartment and…

Suddenly, Tony can feel that someone is watching him. He raises his head and freezes. Peter is standing by the door of his room, still as a statue. There’s a weird look in the kid’s eyes, something that Tony can’t comprehend. And then his stomach drops because he realizes Peter is frozen in fear.

* * *

When Peter wakes up, his mind seems clearer, but his memories are still evading him. He feels tired as if he slept only for a few minutes. Maybe he did, he doesn’t know what time he fell asleep. He guesses he should try to sleep again though, that would be much easier than trying to remember, because no matter how hard he tries, he still can’t tell his full name.

He rubs his eyes, takes a look around in the room and when he glances at the window, he suddenly has an idea. A walk and some fresh air would be really nice. When he pushes himself up, he realizes he doesn’t feel weak or dizzy. Good. He slowly gets out of the bed.

Thankfully, he doesn’t wear a stupid hospital gown, but a t-shirt and sweatpants. He doesn’t have any shoes, though. He looks down at his bare feet and shrugs. Shoes or no shoes, he won’t stay here, a walk sounds way too tempting.

He goes to the door and opens it, but comes to an immediate halt when he notices Doctor Cho talking to a man, who looks very familiar. Suddenly, Peter remembers him. He remembers his face. He’s the guy from his nightmare, Iron Man. He’s not wearing a suit now, but Peter is sure he’s the Avenger who wanted him to surrender. Peter doesn’t really know if that was a dream or a memory.

The man can’t see him yet, he’s too focused on what the doctor is telling him and then he drops into a chair by the wall.

Peter quickly decides to slip back into his room, at least until he can figure out his next step. But the man suddenly turns to him and Peter finds himself frozen in fear. He remembers Iron Man cornering him, telling, no, ordering him to give up, to stop fighting. Peter’s palms are sweating and he feels like he’s suffocating.

“Peter,” the man says, getting on his feet.

Peter’s heart beats faster and he thinks if the Avengers were after him, if they wanted to capture him, he must be a bad guy. The Avengers are heroes, they have saved the world too many times to count and if they came after him, he must be one of the bad guys. A criminal. He must have done really, really bad things if the Avengers wanted to stop him.

So when Iron Man takes a step forward, Peter hurries back into his room. He can hear the man calling his name, but he doesn’t care. He runs to the window, opens it and climbs out without hesitation. He’s on like the 12th floor, but for some reason he can’t explain, he knows that it’s okay, nothing bad will happen to him. He starts his descend down the wall and ignores the anxious pleas above him. He knows he has to be fast, that man is an Avenger, he could catch up with him quickly.

And stopping is not an option. Even though Iron Man sounds concerned. Weird. Why would he be concerned about Peter? He’s a criminal, right? He doesn’t know what would happen to him if he stopped, but he guesses it wouldn’t be good.

So he climbs faster. Exhaustion is not an issue anymore, running for his life has obviously given him the energy he needs. He finally drops to the ground, ignores the surprised people around him in the street and runs.

* * *

Leaning out of the window, Tony curses as he can see Peter getting further and further away from him, crawling down effortlessly on the side of the building. He wishes he had ordered Friday to close the window when he saw Peter slipping back into his room. He should have known that the kid would run, he clearly didn’t recognize Tony and he seemed afraid of him.

“Friday, call Steve and tell him to meet me in the lobby. Now,” he grumbles. “And find me Peter. Hack anything you need to, just find him.”

* * *

Peter runs down an alleyway and climbs over a chained gate. He can’t hear anyone chasing him but he doesn’t dare to turn to look. When he reaches the end of the alley, he decides to take a risk and turns around. The alley behind him is empty. He sighs relieved. He starts walking down the street. But now that he has slowed down, he can feel himself trembling all over and his feet hurt after escaping barefoot.

He walks aimlessly in the streets, always looking down, not daring to look at the people around him. He can feel their eyes on him and he knows he must look weird walking barefoot in the city. He also knows that he needs to find a place to hide and rest, he needs shelter.

He keeps walking until he finds himself in a run-down neighborhood. There are only a few people here and none of them pays attention to him. Good. Finally, he stops in front of an abandoned building. The windows and the door are boarded shut, but he can spot a small open window and he easily climbs through it, making his way into the building. He clumsily walks through a few rooms, tripping over some crates and boxes until he can find a small, empty room. He stumbles to a corner and slides down the wall, too tired to hold himself up anymore. He closes his eyes and prays that no one would find him here.

* * *

Tony and Steve search through the streets around the Tower but they have no idea where Peter could have gone. Friday could follow him to an alleyway but she couldn’t find a camera at the other end of the passage and she lost him.

Tony thinks he’s going crazy. Unbelievable! The kid has just woken up after sleeping for days and he could still disappear on them.

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Steve asks, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

Tony sighs. “You didn’t see his face, Steve. He was terrified of me.”

“Doctor Cho said he had amnesia, right? He wasn’t scared of you, he was just confused.”

“He _was_ scared of me,” Tony claims. “He was staring at me frozen and then he bolted. He didn’t look back, he just wanted to get away from me as fast as he could.”

“It doesn’t make sense. Why would he be scared of _you_?” Steve asks, furrowing his brow.

“I don’t understand it either but I know what I saw,” Tony replies bitterly. He knows he shouldn’t take it personally, he knows Steve is right and Peter must be confused. Maybe some of those drugs are still in his system. The kid is not himself. Still… the way Peter looked at him. It broke Tony’s heart.

“Okay, so we keep looking,” Steve claims, taking a look around as if deciding where to start.

Tony nods and glances up at the sky. He frowns at the dark clouds gathering above them. “Come on. I wanna find him before the storm sets in.”

* * *

_“Stand down. It’s over. You can’t run away. Stop, don’t move. You can’t go anywhere from here.”_

Dark images are plaguing Peter’s mind again. Shields, metal suits, masks, weapons, threats, orders, shouts, blood and pain. He jerks in his sleep but doesn’t wake up.

* * *

The sun finally goes down and it’s raining steadily now. Hacking traffic cameras, Friday managed to catch a glimpse of Peter and now Tony and Steve are standing in a quiet, remote area of the city, full of abandoned and ruined buildings and with only a few people around.

“It makes sense for him to come here,” Steve remarks, looking around. “Seems like a good place to hide.”

Tony nods and his heart drops, thinking a scared kid is hiding somewhere here, in one of these creepy buildings. He must be cold and hurt. They need to find him as soon as possible.

“Alright, let’s go,” he states, ignoring the rain and heading to the nearest building. He considers changing into his suit, so that he could see the area from above when suddenly, they can hear a scream. A girl, clearly in trouble. The two men spin around, trying to find the source of the scream. Tony is about to ask Friday to tell them what’s going on, when there’s a second scream and now they are able to tell which way they should go. They head for a seemingly empty warehouse on their left.

* * *

Peter is woken up from his restless sleep by a girl’s scream. He can tell she must be behind the building he’s staying in. But his mind still feels so foggy that he’s not sure if he really heard that scream or it was just a dream, a part of his nightmare. There’s a second scream though, so he clumsily climbs to his feet. There’s only one thing he’s absolutely sure about. Someone is in trouble and he has to help her.

He slowly walks to an open window at the back of the building and peeks out. He can see a man holding a young woman at gunpoint. He knows the thug can’t see him, he has his back to Peter and he’s too busy with tackling the girl to the ground. As quietly as he can, Peter climbs through the window.

The rain makes it easy for him to sneak up on the man unnoticed. He’s too focused on the girl in his grip and he probably thinks no one would ever see them here in the rain, behind an abandoned building. When Peter taps him on the shoulder, he turns around with utter shock on his face. Peter grins before he punches him in the face. Then he grabs the man’s wrist and twists it, making him drop the gun.

“Run,” Peter tells the terrified girl on the round. She nods, scrambles to her feet and runs away.

The distraction is enough for the man to kick Peter in the stomach and slam his fist across his face. Any other time, Peter would just shrug and return the punch without a thought, but it’s different now. He still feels so weak and he doesn’t really know what is happening right now. He just knows there's a man in front of him, someone who wants to fight him. He knows he should defend himself but he feels so damned tired. He drops to the ground and pants heavily.

But no. He can’t give in to the pain. So he grits his teeth and pushes himself to his feet. Only to find a gun in his face. Shit. He freezes.

“Did you really think you could get away with this?” the thug says with a smug grin on his face.

Peter swallows hard.

This is it. He’s about to die.

* * *

Tony moves to the side of the building with Steve right behind him. The screaming stopped and they don’t know what happened. There are no cameras here, so Friday can’t tell them what is going on behind the building. But she can detect two heat signatures, a third one getting away.

Tony rounds the corner and the sight in front of makes him come to an immediate halt. Peter is there, held at gunpoint.

The Iron Man suit immediately forms around Tony as he moves closer. “Stop!” he yells.

* * *

Peter gasps. It seems like they have company, but surprisingly, the thug doesn’t get scared. He tugs him forward and puts an arm around his neck. Peter desperately pulls at the arm, breathing hard in the strong grip. Through the rain, he can see two men at the corner of the building. He recognizes the red and golden armor. Iron Man. The other guy beside him also seems familiar.

“Put the gun down and let the kid go,” Iron Man orders, holding up a hand threateningly.

“No, you get out of here and let me go or I’ll put a bullet in his head,” the thug yells over the rain.

“Put the gun down. Now,” the man beside Iron Man says calmly, raising a round shield. Captain America, Peter’s sluggish mind supplies.

For a moment, he’s back there in that dark room when these two Avengers cornered him. When they ordered him to stop fighting and surrender. Peter tries to blink away that memory. But he doesn’t understand. What are these two doing here? Who they want to fight? Him or the guy practically choking him? Maybe both of them?

Peter’s trembling all over now and he doesn’t know if it’s because of the cold rain or the lack of oxygen. His vision is blurring in and out of focus. Once again, he feels weak and utterly exhausted and he’s sure if the man didn’t hold him, he would drop to the ground.

He stares at the Avengers in front of them. What are they going to do? Will they let this man kill him?

“Don’t come any closer,” the man behind him says, but it doesn’t sound like a threat, more like a plea.

And Iron Man has obviously noticed that, too because he takes a step forward. His faceplate retracts and seeing his face, now Peter can recall his real name: Tony Stark. Stark narrows his eyes at the man with the gun. His cold look seems even more threatening than the Iron helmet.

Peter remembers that he saw genuine concern on the man’s face while he was talking to Doctor Cho. But now? He looks so intimidating that Peter swallows hard.

“You are holding _my kid_ hostage, asshole!” the man yells out. “Do you really want to kill him? Do you have any idea what I would do to you? I would make you suffer in ways you can’t even imagine. You would beg me to kill you. But I wouldn’t. I would just make you suffer more. So I’m asking you again, dipshit, do you really want that?”

Peter has no idea if Stark really means it or just wants to scare the guy. Either way, it’s working. He can feel the grip on him loosen. And he knows it’s his chance to make a move. His hand immediately comes up, grabbing the gun and twisting the man’s arm, disarming him easily. Peter hits him across the face with the gun, sending him to the ground. He stumbles back, the adrenaline rush already leaving him.

“Losing your memory hasn’t dulled your reflexes, kid,” Captain America smiles impressed.

Peter spins around, raising the gun at the Avengers. “Stay back,” he warns them. He guesses this mere gun wouldn’t be enough to defeat them, but it’s not like he has a choice, this is the only available weapon.

Captain America drops his shield and raises his hands, just like Iron Man beside him.

“Easy, kid, easy,” Stark says gently and Peter shakes his head confused, because the man sounds… nice. Not like the intimidating man in his nightmare ordering him to stand down.

Iron Man takes a small step forward, still holding up his hands. “Peter, I promise we’re not going to hurt you.” Unexpectedly, the shiny suit disappears and it’s only Stark standing in front of Peter. He blinks confused. What just happened? Where did the suit go?

The man takes another step towards Peter and in response, he steps back. There’s a hint of sadness on Stark’s face, but he quickly regains his composure. “I don’t know why you’re scared of me, kid, but you don’t have to be. I’m not going to hurt you. I want to help you.”

Peter’s hands are shaking and he finds it hard to focus on the two men in front of him. Maybe it’s just the rain, raindrops dripping into his eyes, he thinks.

“Peter,” Captain America says behind Stark. “You’re not well. We should get back to the Tower, so that Doctor Cho can help you.”

The gun wavers in Peter’s hand. “No,” he mutters. “I need to know who I am.”

Stark sighs saddened. “You’re Peter Parker. Aka Spiderman. You’re my kid.”

Peter closes his eyes tight and shakes his head vehemently. No. This doesn’t make sense. These two were chasing him, they hunted him down, threatened him. They’re enemies. And the enemies of the Avengers are… bad guys. Criminals.

When he opens his eyes, he can see the men have taken a few steps to get closer to him. “Stay back!” he yells at them desperately.

Stark nods and stops, looking Peter in the eye. “Are you afraid of me, Pete? Why?” he asks quietly.

Peter’s hands are shaking even more now and he suddenly finds the gun really heavy, it’s hard to hold it up. “When I close my eyes, I can see you…” he explains, glancing down at his bare feet. They have a weird bluish color in the rain. “I can see you and him, too,” he nods at Captain America. “You were really angry at me. Like you hated me. Wanted me to surrender… To stop fighting you.”

Stark lets out a frustrated sigh. “Geez, kid, that was…Shit, it’s complicated, alright? Let’s get back to the Tower and I’ll explain you everything.”

Peter shakes his head again and takes a step back. “No. That’s all I can remember. I don’t even know where I live. This is the only thing I remember,” he says desperately. “I don’t know… I need to know… need to…” he slurs.

“Know what, kid?” Stark asks gently.

Suddenly, Peter jerks his head up, looking the man in the eye. “Am I a bad guy?”

From the corner of his eye, he can see Captain America closing his eyes, then lowering his head. But Stark never breaks eye contact and he steps closer to Peter.

“Listen to me carefully, Pete. You’re a good kid. A very good one. A much better person than I will ever be, alright? You’re a hero, kid. And we fight together. We’ve saved a lot of lives and defeated many bad guys together. Like this prick right here,” he adds, pointing to the man on the ground. “And you’re not like him. You’re not a bad guy. You’re one of us. More importantly, you’re my kid. We’re practically family.”

“Family?” Peter asks confused. He can remember a lab now, the man in front of him – Mr. Stark –standing at a table with a screwdriver in his hand and laughing, while Peter is devouring cold pizza, sitting on a stool beside him. But he’s not sure if it’s real or just another trick of his mind.

“Yes, family,” Mr. Stark smiles. He puts a hand on Peter’s shoulder and gently squeezes it.

Peter lets out a breath he doesn’t remember holding and nods. He finally decides to believe Mr. Stark. He seems genuine and… his instinct says he can trust him. More than he can trust himself right now.

“I’m a good guy,” he mumbles relieved, letting the gun drop from his hand. There’s no strength left in him anymore and standing seems like an impossible task. Darkness surrounds him and he can feel his knees buckle, but before he could hit the ground, strong arms catch him.

“Peter! Kid, answer me!” Mr. Stark demands and Peter wants to obey him, he really does, because the man sounds so worried and Peter wants to comfort him, but he doesn’t feel strong enough to speak, let alone to open his eyes. He can hear Mr. Stark curse, then there’s a strange feeling, as if he’s being lifted. What is going on? It seems too much for his foggy mind to understand, so he decides to give in to the exhaustion and rest a bit. Hopefully, when he wakes up, everything will make sense again.

* * *

Tony is sitting by Peter’s bedside and he refuses to leave the room until the kid wakes up again. What if he wakes up when Tony’s not here with him? What if he wakes up again feeling scared and not remembering anything? Tony doesn’t want to risk that, he doesn’t want to find his kid again behind a creepy warehouse in the rain, doesn’t want to see him so lost, confused and terrified.

He runs a hand through his hair, thinking how unfair it is that the only memory Peter has is a terrible one. He doesn’t remember the good things, all the fun they had together, he doesn’t recognize the people who love him, no, he remembers that awful time when they found him drugged and confused and tried to make him stop fighting.

And he thought he was a bad guy. Shit. This sweet, nice kid with his perfect manners. It’s like a fucking joke.

But it’s gonna be okay now. At least, that’s what Tony keeps telling himself. Peter had fever, when he brought him back to the Tower. Doctor Cho said they had found him in time, but they had to battle dehydration and the fever. The doctor also bandaged Peter’s feet that were bleeding after escaping with no shoes, but thanks to his healing factor, they would be okay soon.

The door opens and Steve enters. He has two coffee cups in his hands and he offers one of them to Tony who gratefully accepts it. Steve takes a seat beside him. “How is he?” he asks, watching the sleeping form of the boy in the bed. Peter still looks very pale, but he seems to rest peacefully under the warm blankets.

“Well, the fever is lowering, thank goodness,” Tony replies, watching the kid. “Helen says he might wake up soon.”

“Do you think he’ll get his memories back?” Steve muses.

Tony shrugs. “I hope so. If not, we’re gonna make new ones. Very happy ones.”

* * *

Peter sleeps nearly for a day. Doctor Cho says they need to give time to his healing factor to do its job and hopefully, when Peter opens his eyes, the drugs will be completely out of his system. She’s sure the kid will make a full recovery. His memory? Well, that’s another story.

But Tony doesn’t really care. He just wants to see Peter awake. Although, it would be really nice if the kid wasn’t terrified of him this time.

He can hear a soft groan from the bed, so he looks up from his tablet and smiles relieved.

“Hey, kid,” he says gently, leaning closer.

Hearing his voice, Peter slowly turns his head toward him and opens his eyes. It takes a few moments, until the kid opens his mouth to speak. “Wa…ter,” he mutters.

Tony grabs a glass of water with a straw and helps him drink. After taking a few gulps, Peter lets his head fall back to the pillow. He closes his eyes and smiles. “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

Tony furrows his brow and stares at the kid. Does this mean…?

“Kid, can you tell me your name?”

“Peter Parker,” the boy replies automatically, eyes still closed.

“Where do you live?” Tony probes again.

The kid opens his eyes and frowns at the man, but tells him his address anyway. “Why are you asking me this stuff, Mr. Stark?” he asks confused.

“You remember!” the man grins, ignoring his question.

“Of course I remember,” Peter says. “Why wouldn’t I remember where I live?”

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?” Tony asks, ignoring the kid’s question once again.

Peter seems to think hard before finally answering. “Those guys took me and injected me with something… I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, I know I should have been more careful and-”

“Kid, that was like a week ago,” Tony interrupts him. So it seems like Peter remembers everything, except for that terrible time when he was running away from them and yesterday when he escaped from the Tower. Actually, it’s really good.

“I was out for a week?” Peter asks in shock.

“Well, you did wake up yesterday but you didn’t remember anything,” the man explains, deciding to leave out a few details.

“Oh. Did I do anything weird? Something I should know about?”

Tony quickly shakes his head. “Nothing weird. But it’s not important anyway. I just want you to remember that you’re a good person, Pete, a very good one. And we’re family, kid.”

Peter gives him a smile. “Sure thing, Mr. Stark.”

**Author's Note:**

> So did you like it? Wasn't it too long? :) Let me know, please.
> 
> I really enjoyed writing confused Peter, so I might return to this idea later ;)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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